Italy Vote Nears, Spurring Noise and a Tinge of Panic

Italy’s election campaign has become more and more combative just as it’s increasingly likely that no simple majority will be formed, requiring post-electoral coalition forging.

“I’ve seen a lot of elections, and this one is turning out to be just as full of noise as others, but I trust that all participants understand they will have to be serious when the voting is over,” President Giorgio Napolitano, the head of state, said at an awards ceremony in Rome on Tuesday.

His comments come after leading candidates made a raft of remarks aimed at making alliances harder to form.

“I don’t and won’t have anything in common with this coalition of the left,” departing Prime Minister Mario Monti, who heads a new centrist coalition, said in a television interview on Monday.